Pacman agrees to fight Mayweather

Dennis Principe

By Dennis Principe

Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao has agreed in principle to battle Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on March 13. This was confirmed by Pacquiao’s lawyer Jeng Gacal in an interview with Fightnews moments ago. Friday night, Pacquiao went on air via GMA-7’s “24 Oras” newscast and said he is willing to fight Mayweather on the said date. “He’s been trash talking too much and I want to put a stop to it. I don’t want kids who are watching us to emulate him,” said Pacquiao.

Gacal meantime added that Pacquiao seems satisfied with the offer presented to him by American promoter Bob Arum in their meeting Friday afternoon at the Renaissance Hotel.

Pacquiao reportedly wants some minor details to be ironed out by Arum for the Filipino pound for pound king to finally sign the dotted line.

Gacal said Pacquiao was agreeable to the March 13 face-off as it will still give him ample time to prepare for his Sarangani congressional bid in the May 10, 2010 elections.

Early this week the camp of Mayweather made an own announcement indicating their readiness to fight Pacquiao either on March 13 or May 1.

Thursday morning Arum arrived from Las Vegas and was able to sit down with Pacquiao after waiting for nearly a day just to get a schedule with the Filipino sensation.

Earlier in a press conference announcing the Philippine TV partnership between Top Rank and ABS-CBN, Arum refused to reveal any detail about his meeting with Pacquiao except that it turned out to be fruitful.

“You guys can interpret that anyway you want. But you see a smile on my face so I’m not disappointed,” said Arum. “Now my job is to go back to the United States, sit with Richard Schaefer (CEO of Golden Boy Promotions) and the Mayweather people… so that we can make an announcement in a short term.”